MP in fight for curbs on lap-dance clubs

Stourbridge MP Lynda Waltho is battling in the House of Commons to give people the right to object against lap-dancing clubs being opened on their doorsteps.

At the moment gentlemen's clubs are classed in the same way as normal pubs and clubs under the 2003 Licensing Act.

But Mrs Waltho is campaigning for local councils to be able to class them as Sex Encounter Establishments in the same way as sex shops or cinemas. She has co-sponsored a bill calling for change and has also called on Women's Minister Harriet Harman to back the changes.

Mrs Waltho said: "I am co-sponsoring the bill because it seems ridiculous that in this day and age you can object to your neighbour building a porch next door, but cannot object to a lap-dancing club opening up 200 yards down the road.

"Local communities need more say about whether lap-dancing clubs should exist in their neighbourhood. The Bill aims to give more say to local people. "I asked the Minister for Women to commit to steering this issue because I was worried that we might end up with an endless game of ping-pong between Government departments."

The long-running campaign moved a step closer to a successful conclusion when Harriet Harman seemed to give her backing to the plans in response to Mrs Waltho. Mrs Waltho was a vocal critic of plans to open tow lap-dancing clubs in Stourbridge – Heaven Gentlemen's Club in Lower High Street and the club that replaced the Picture House.

Speaking at the time, she expressed fears Stourbridge would become the "Soho of the Black Country".

She said: "I am really disappointed that businesses see live sex shows as the only way forward."